Sports Illustrated came in the mail at my house this week like always.

This issue was the swimsuit issue.

My husband says if there was a way he could opt out of that particular issue he would, but it comes with the subscription. He said itā€™s awful because he just hates sexy women with perfect bodies wearing bikinis on the beach.Ā  Gross.

Ashley Graham is on the cover this year. I donā€™t know her, but she did catch my eye. What caught my attention wasnā€™t her skimpy bikini and sultry look.

What caught my eye was her size.

She isnā€™t rail thin. I canā€™t count her ribs. Iā€™ve never seen anything like her in Sports Illustrated much less on the cover.

(Cue the heavenly choir of angels singing.)

Did you hear me?Ā  A size 14-16 model is on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Sheā€™s not in one of those plus size fashion swimsuits that cover more than a regular swimsuit would and normally comes in mostly black either.

Sheā€™s in a sexy little purple bikini and isnā€™t trying to cover anything up.

She is stunning.

It makes me feel like taking a victory lap for women.

Hooray, now girls of a more average size can also be exploited on magazine covers just like the little tiny skinny girls do!

While equality among swimsuit models may not be the final goal, it certainly is a good sign of the shift in culture that strong confident women are demanding.

Itā€™s not that I donā€™t think the traditional slim model is beautiful. I have a nearly 6 foot tall teenage girl who can give them a run for their money in those swimsuits. Itā€™s that Iā€™m happy to see women of other sizes be celebrated as well. Finally.

I fall into that category of always trying to change myself to fit into the standard mold of what beauty is according to pop culture. When I was in middle school I thought I was too skinny. As a teenager and young adult I always felt too fat. I constantly chased the idea of how I needed to look, as it was fed to me by what I saw on the covers of magazines, if I wanted to be beautiful.

Now, at 39 years old, I still struggle with that, although with age comes wisdom and so I do care less than I did as a teenager about these things.Ā  Even so, I still look in the mirror and sayĀ words to myself that I would never say to anyone else.

Mean things.

I say things in my head like, ā€œThat stretch mark above your bellybutton is disgusting, donā€™t ever think of wearing a bikini. Maybe you should consider some Botox. And for Godā€™s sake do a few pushups before you wear that strapless dress.ā€

Iā€™m so rude to me. Iā€™m such a bully.

I would never talk to another woman like that yet I don’t hold anything back when talking to myself.

Despite how I tend to chew myself out in my head while standing in front of a mirror I still manage to wake up in the morning feeling pretty cheerful on most days. Fortunately my husband is also a cheerful waker-upper. However, we managed to produce two children who are anything but morning people. They start their day each morning feeling annoyed and moody.

This really brings me down. Normally about the time we are almost to school on the morning drive I usually begin my sermon on positive thinking.

And let me tell you, there is nothing a cranky non-morning person likes more than sermons preached by their mom on the benefits of positive thinking at 7:30am.

My Daughter: ā€œToday is going to suck because I have (insert any activity) to do today at school.ā€

Me: ā€œWell if you think that it will suck then it probably will. You are going to believe whatever you tell yourself about today. Why donā€™t you tell yourself how great it will be instead? You need to focus on what you love about this day instead of what you hate about it. I bet it will cause you to have a better day.ā€

Her: ā€œPlease donā€™t.ā€

My son: (heā€™s not saying anything because he has completely tuned me out and began listening to music through his headsetā€¦heā€™s not as wordy as his sister)

Today, as I was giving myself the less-than-encouraging pep talk in my head as I was deciding on what to wear it occurred to me how hypocritical I am. If my kids could hear the convo going on in my head they would jump at the opportunity to use my own words against me by saying, ā€œWhy donā€™t you think about how great you look today? Think about how you are healthy and happy. Focus on how inner beauty is more important than outer beauty. Think about how lucky you are to be standing in a closet with so many options. Try to focus on what you love instead of what you hate and maybe you will feel better about yourself.ā€

I get the feeling by looking at the lovely Ashley Graham on the cover of SI that she feels pretty good about herself. One has to feel somewhat comfortable in her own skin to be cool with being half nude on the cover of a national publication.

I know that the idea to begin showcasing a wider range of what is considered beautiful didnā€™t come from a bunch of women sitting around criticizing themselves. Beauty starts with the heart and then oozes out to the face. This shift in how we as Americans are trying to reshape the idea on what beauty is came from people who were beautiful on the inside. People who believed in themselves. People who saw beauty in others. That inside beauty oozed out and covered them making their outside beautiful as well.

Ever notice how someone can get prettier after you get to know them? Thatā€™s inner beauty that has oozed out. I also know people who have looked uglier after I got to know them, but thatā€™s a topic for another time.

So as I sit here and feel excited about the subtle shift Iā€™m seeing I understand that in order to be part of that movement of celebrating women of any size I have to begin with me.

Spring is around the corner and I can promise Iā€™ll be in a swimsuit at the pool. I canā€™t promise that Iā€™ll be as confident as Ashley Graham quite yet, but thatā€™s my goal. I think the key to making this happen for all of us who share in this struggle isĀ making the focus be on beautifying our inside so that our outside will show it, but remembering that Rome wasnā€™t built in a day.

ā€œEcclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.ā€

This morning was my bi-monthly hair appointment.

I look forward to this appointment because no matter how hard I try my hair never looks more fabulous than when Iā€™m walking away fromĀ my hair stylists chair. When I leave from there Iā€™m able to give the illusion to others that I got up early and fixed my hair, applied some lip gloss and ran errands looking like a boss.

Another thing I love about my hair appointment is that when I go into her little salon with teal walls, a pretty little chandelier and a girly white fur chair I get to sit down for an hour and a half and have girl talk.

Leslie is a young 30 year old blonde who is married to the sweetest guy. She hasnā€™t started a family yet so I hear stories about her adventures with raising a puppy and about the cruises they go on. My talk is usually about my kids or my lack of hair styling abilities.

Today we were talking about our husbands.

It started out being lovely words exchanged from two doting wives about their handsome husbands. However, one thing led to another and the next thing I know I was saying to her that ā€œthere are days in my marriage when Iā€™d like to dig a hole in my back yard and bury him in it.ā€

Well that escalated quickly.

Yes, I actually said that. I would never actually hurt him. It just feels good to say it sometimes. I said it playfully, but it was an inside thought that slipped out of my mouth before I could catch it and she knew it.

To my surprise, Leslie said, ā€œSometimes I daydream about smothering my husband with a pillow in his sleep. Like I think that would really make me feel better on certain days.ā€

We both burst into laughter at the shock at what was just said.

She then said, ā€œWe are both married to really great guys. Like really great guys. I donā€™t know how women who are married to jerks do it. They must want to kill their husbands all the time.ā€

Again, laughter erupts.

Sheā€™s right too. My husband is the kind of guy who sends ā€˜just becauseā€™ flowers all the time. He still uses pickup lines on me when asking me to go out on a date with him, which I find adorable. He works hard for our family and is the best father any kid could dream of having. Leslie has shared sweet stories of the romantic things her husband has done. We are lucky girls.

None the less, sometimes I think about burying him in the back yard.

I wouldnā€™t be ugly about it. Iā€™d get him a lovely headstone and make sure to change out the flowers ever so often.

Today takes the cake for my favorite conversation that has ever happened while sitting in her chair with a head full of foils.

She said that she was actually relieved to hear that sheā€™s not alone with feeling like that. She said she feels bad at times about how she gets so furious with him, but hearing me say that made her feel a little better.

She said, ā€œIā€™m so happy that other women who are sane and married to awesome men also sometimes want to kill them.ā€

More evil laughter.

What she said next had me grabbing for my phone to make notes about the conversation before I forgot exactly what she said.

She said she thinks married couples need ā€œpeer counseling.ā€ Meaning, how great would it be if we were able to be open and authentic with each other about our marriages. I love hearing about romantic things my friendā€™s husbands do for them or seeing their gorgeous family photos of their whimsical holiday festivities. However, when I only see the good stuff, their highlight reel, I begin thinking I donā€™t measure up.

Sometimes I wonder if my thoughts and feelings are crazy. It casts a dark cloud of doubt over our relationship because it makes me feel as though our marriage is not as great as my friendā€™s seemingly perfect marriages.

When a slip of tongue about wanting to kill him during stressful times in our lives is reciprocated by an ā€œI daydream about smothering my husband in his sleep.ā€ Oddly enough it makes me suddenly feel normal. I feel validated. I feel less crazy. I can even laugh about it.

Peer Marriage Counseling. She may be on to something.

Chrissy Teigen, the model married to John Legend, recently tweeted, ā€œI always have a note in my pocket that says, ā€œJohn did itā€ just in case Iā€™m murdered because I donā€™t want him to remarry #truelove #tips.ā€

This beautiful lady is talking about framing her husband for murder. And itā€™s hilarious. Why? Because we can relate to that sentiment.

We deeply love our husbands, but donā€™t always feel in love. We have to choose love. Make a conscious decision to love even when the feeling isnā€™t there. Itā€™s the beauty of marriage. Pop culture tells us that we should always have butterflies in our stomach when our significant other walks into a room. How we should always feel dreamy eyed and smitten. Itā€™s just not realistic to feel like this 100% of the time once youā€™re knee deep in a love that is an in-for-the-long-haul type of love like marriage.

Sometimes I feel in love. Sometimes I have little hearts floating around my head and I swoon over him.

Sometimes I donā€™t feel the love and briefly pondering his demise kind of feels more appropriate.

It goes both ways. Heā€™s in the same boat. He would tell you that Iā€™m not always a pleasure to be around. He maybe would even confess to visions of poisoning my breakfast, but he chooses me.

Thatā€™s what love looks like.

After my peer marriage counseling session that also happened to coincide with a fresh blow out and style, Iā€™m reminded about how normal I am. How great and normal my husband is. How a little bit of real conversation builds trust in friendships and is encouraging. It feels good to be able to laugh about the stress in our lives.

We both agreed that we are indeed married to awesome fellas, even if we do happen to daydream about killing them on occasion.